Qais Abdur Rashid


Qais Abdur Rashīd or Qais Abdul Rasheed is said to be, in post-Islamic lore, the legendary founding father of the Pashtuns. There are doubts about the historicity and existence of such a figure: as the Pashtun ethnicity began taking shape in the Bronze Age and Islam spread through Afghanistan over a period time as opposed to people changing faith in a single day. It is likely the conception of such a figure was promoted to bring harmony between religious identity and ethnic identity.
Qais is said to have traveled to Mecca and Medina in Arabia during the early days of Islam.
According to the folk tale, Qais had three sons: Saṛban, Bēṭ, and Gharghax̌t. His sons founded three tribal confederacies named after them: Sarbani, Bettani, and Gharghashti. Qais also had an adopted son, Karlani Ormur Baraki, who is progenitor of the Karlani tribe. There are multiple versions of the legend, including several regional variants that mention only one, two, or three of the four legendary brothers.

Genealogical tree

Some Afghan genealogies list Qais as the 37th descendant of King Talut through Malik Afghana, a legendary grandson of Talut.
According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the theory of Pashtun descent from the ancient Israelites is traced to Tārīkh-e Khān Jahānī wa Makhzan-e Afghānī, a history compiled by Nimat Allah al-Harawi during the reign of the Mughal emperor Jahangir in the 17th century. The Makhzan-e Afghānī's Israelite theory, however, has been dismissed by modern authorities due to numerous historical and linguistic inconsistencies.

Legend

Legend has it that Qais was born in the Ghor region of present-day central Afghanistan. Upon hearing about the advent of Islam, his tribe sent him to Medina in the Arabian Peninsula, in present-day Saudi Arabia. He met the Prophet Muhammad and embraced Islam there, and was given the name Abdur Rashīd by the Prophet. He then returned to Ghor and introduced Islam to his tribe. According to Mountstuart Elphinstone, in legend the famous military leader and companion of Muhammad, Khalid ibn al-Walid, introduced Qais to the Prophet Muhammad.

Settlement

One legend has it that when Qais felt his time was near, he asked his sons to take him from Ghor to the Sulaiman Mountains and bury him at the spot where his ancestor Malik Afghana was buried, and he was buried on top of Takht-e-Sulaiman, also called Da Kasī Ghar, located near the village of Darazinda in Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan of the FATA Districts of Pakistan, close to Frontier Region Dera Ismail Khan's borders with both South Waziristan and Zhob District, Balochistan. Some people visit the place, mostly in the summer, since in winters the snowfall makes it difficult to climb, and sacrifice an animal, usually a sheep or a goat at the tomb of Qais.
According to another legend, however, Qais settled in the Balkh region of present-day northern Afghanistan. From there, his different descendants migrated south, west, and east.

Genetics

There is, however, no strong evidence to show any genealogical connection between the present-day Pashtuns and the ancient Semitic-speaking Israelites. DNA shows that Pashtuns have several Y-haplogroups, although R1a makes up about 51% among Pashtuns. Hence, Pashtuns have a significant affinity with their neighboring Indo-European speaking ethnic groups,